Former Sugimoto Family Residence Long House

What the Former Sugimoto Family Residence Long House is

The Former Sugimoto Family Residence Long House (旧杉本家住宅長屋, Kyū Sugimoto-ke Jūtaku Nagaya) is an outbuilding built around 1905 in Hattaino, Hakusan-cho, Tsu City, Mie Prefecture, moved around 1955, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 17, 2015.

It is a single-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 95 square meters. Attached to the east side of the main house, it runs south along the eastern edge of the plot for a length of 19 meters.

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, it was first used as a silkworm-rearing house. Sericulture, in other words, was carried on in a building joined directly to the family's home.

Why the Sugimoto long house was registered

The Former Sugimoto Family Residence Long House was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency describes it as an outbuilding that helps form a well-preserved residential compound.

The value lies less in the building on its own than in the part it plays. This long range closes off the east side of the front yard, and together with the main house, the detached room and the gate it completes the enclosure around that yard.

Four rooms, an earth-floored passage and a hidden upper level

Inside, the Former Sugimoto Family Residence Long House is divided into four rooms, with an earth-floored passage half a ken wide, about 0.9 meters, along the west front. The west side faces the front yard, so you step from the yard into the passage and from there into each room.

The rooms have board floors, except for the southernmost bay, which is a beaten-earth floor. From outside the building reads as a single storey, but the interior is built on two levels. No source found so far explains how the upper level was used.

Because the long house was moved around 1955, where it stood before and how much was altered in the move still need to be checked.

Seeing the Former Sugimoto Family Residence Long House

The Former Sugimoto Family Residence Long House is privately owned, and no interior opening has been announced. The passage and the upper level are indoors and cannot be seen from outside.

Since the long house runs along the eastern edge of the plot, its back wall might be visible from a road on that side, but this has not been confirmed. Please stay off the grounds. Directions are on the Former Sugimoto Family Residence page.